Southern Moderate African American Issues

Pick Your Battles: Austin Scott, Stacey Abrams, Stacey Evans

We bloggers wrote that gubernatorial candidate Austin Scott should leave the crowded field and run for the U.S. House in 2010. We created a Facebook page stating the case.

Scott was a Republican maverick in the statehouse; he sided with Democrat Governor Roy Barnes to change the confederate part of the state flag. As a Democrat, encouraging an opponent of a Moderate Democrat congressman was hard but Rep. Jim Marshall spent all of his time distancing himself from Pelosi and Obama. If you aren’t riding with the team, you can go.

Of course, Scott could see how far down he was in the polls without our opinions. Scott switched to the House race, won the election and our community hasn’t really seen him since then. Scott was even an early supporter of Marco Rubio for president but he moved over to the dark side with Trump. In retrospect, keeping Marshall as a White Moderate Democrat would have been better for party balance.

The old White leadership of the Georgia Democrat Party is in uncharted waters these days. With the exodus of rural Whites and some labor members to the G.O.P., the Democrat Party in Georgia is mostly Black and the remaining urban Whites are often Progressives. The cornerstone of this blog is that everyone in the political arena has an agenda. The agenda of the old White leadership seems to be: find a candidate who can raise tons of money; get paid with said candidate; and prepare to do the same in two years with someone else. The recruited candidates were good citizens and the list grows: Michael Cole for Senate, Jim Martin for Senate, Jim Barksdale for Senate and Stacey Evans for governor.

I told Mrs. Evans that she could win the lieutenant governor race. If Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans teamed up on the state, they both might have won. But, the abovementioned leadership must have convinced Evans that she could win the primary. Results show they were wrong and real political talent and energy was misplaced.

So, the same old school Black and White Democrat leadership is at it again. They are trying to find someone they can control to run for U.S. Senate. Their list of hopefuls includes former congressional candidate Jon Ossoff, recent lieutenant governor candidate Sarah Riggs Amico and Columbus mayor Teresa Tomlinson. They have little control over Stacey Abrams.

I want to make a pro football playoffs parallel. The New Orleans Saints finished the regular season with the best record in the N.F.C. They earned a first round bye in the playoffs and home field advantage. Stacey Abrams almost won the governor’s race. If she wants to run statewide for U.S. Senate, she has earned a first round bye (no primary opponents) and the home field advantage that comes with a fresh, proven campaign network and a powerful database. The Saints could rest during the Wildcard Weekend and Abrams should relax for 6 months or so before becoming more familiar with the under vote producing sections of rural Georgia.

The idea that Abrams should run in a primary is laughable and an insult to the thousands of man-hours put in by grassroots citizens during her recent race. In the old days, the party would clear the field. It feels like Gone With The Wind after the South fell. Shall the former slaves fret over the fall of a culture that subjugated them or shall they celebrate? Remember, the old White party leadership owns the election losses of the last 20 years.

But, I have good news for my White moderate Democrat friends. You are very important in a national party. A national party must have a range of voices at the table. My moderate views are similar to yours and we counterbalance the Far Left in policy meetings. Suburban college educated voters in Georgia rocked with us; we might pull some of the voters who want to abandon the craziness of the Trump G.O.P.

The natural races for moderate White Democrat candidates would be G.O.P.-held congressional seats. In Georgia, a candidate can run in any district. The margin of victory for these Trump-associated congressmen is less than the number of African American adults who don’t currently vote and grassroots groups will be working on that for the next two years.

The ultimate prize is removing Trump from the White House. Switching Georgia is part of the plan but it requires strong candidates on every level. The new Democrat president could enjoy control of the Senate if Stacey Abrams and a few others win.